As new campaign finance laws are set to go into effect today, an Associated Press report on Saturday showed $235,000 in laundered illegal gambling money reached the campaigns of a number of state officials and candidates, including Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Speaker of the House Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg.

Since news of the tainted funds came to light in April, the three highest-profile state-elected officials gave the sums they received to charity.

Under the new state elections law, the maximum contribution to candidates rises from $4,000 to $5,000, and several disclosure provisions will be rolled back. The anticipated effect of the changes is unknown.

“Hard to say at this point until we go through the 2014 election cycle,” said Michael Bitzer, associate professor of politics and history and acting provost at Catawba College. “One of the big questions will be: will big donors — those who hit the max at $4,000 — increase their donations to $5,000? That may be the real test of the 2014 cycle.”

He continued, “More importantly, and this may be outside North Carolina’s control when it comes to the U.S. Senate race, how much money will flood into the state for the Kay Hagan race? While we have the legislative seats up for grabs and some judicial seats in 2014, 2016 is going to be the critical test case for these new rules, I’d think.”

On the disclosure side, the requirement for candidates to say “I approved this message” in ads is out. So is the rule mandating independent spenders list their top five donors in print ads.

Beginning after the 2014 primaries, groups behind negative ads only need to disclose the cost and funding of the ad beginning Sept. 8 — the old rule stated disclosure was mandatory beginning 60 days from Election Day.

“This is kind of the opposite direction most states are going,” said Peter Quist of the National Institute on Money in State Politics. “There have been a lot of legal challenges to certain aspects of campaign finance — largely with limits and that sort of thing.

“There have been some challenges on the disclosure side, but those have not been as effective, including the Citizens United decision, of course, if persistently upheld disclosure is constitutional. So, for most states — the independent spending side in particular — their disclosure is not usually that good and they are making strides now to enhance it.”

The 2012 state elections led to $78.2 million in political contributions, including $14.9 million in independent spending. While statewide contests in prior years were dominated by Democrats on the money board, the GOP took control in a cycle that saw Republicans make unprecedented gains statewide.

The state Republican Party far outpaced all other contributors among parties and committees with $6.3 million, and Berger’s and Tillis’ committees broke into the top five with a combined $2 million-plus donation to the state GOP.

Page 2 of 2 - On the independent spending end, the Republican Governors Association led the way with $5 million followed by N.C. Citizens for Progress with $2.6 million — both efforts were to benefit McCrory.

The N.C. Judicial Coalition, an effort to support state Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby, put in $1.3 million, Democrat-affiliated Common Sense Matters spent just under $1 million and the Art Pope-related Real Jobs N.C. came in fifth with almost $890,000.

Bitzer said in future election cycles it may become harder to know where the money’s sent and from whom.

“While Republicans would argue that the disclosure rules ‘overlap’ with other reporting requirements, state-only contests — such as for the General Assembly or executive branch offices — may be much harder to track the influence of money going into their campaigns, and the amount of money coming in will only increase into the future,” Bitzer said.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.